LAUSD announces Michelle Brait, SDC teacher at Reseda HS as recipient of Rookie of the Year teaching award.

Students at Leichman Career and Transition Center are working on a project with UCLA to catalog and archive 30 years of local TV news footage.

Over a two-day period, 70 fourth- and fifth-grade students from Liggett Street Elementary School and Nestle Avenue Charter will record vocals at Capitol Studios, located in the landmark Capitol Records building in Hollywood.
Liggett Elementary School students will perform “Eleanor Rigby,” by The Beatles; “Lost Boy” by Ruth B; and “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. Nestle Avenue Charter will record “Fight Song,” along with The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” and “Diamonds” by Rihanna. Each student will receive a link to a session download as a souvenir.
Under the direction of music teacher Avah Ham, the students will sing in Studio A, where such performers as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Michael Bublé and Imagine Dragons have recorded since 1956.

. Nancy Joaquin, a special-education teacher at the Canoga Park Early Education Center, was surprised with materials and supplies to equip a new outdoor classroom during a National Teachers Appreciation Week event sponsored by the SoCal Honda Dealers Random Acts of Helpfulness on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. Joaquin was nominated for the recognition by Sara Vasquez, principal of the Canoga Park and Cleveland Early Education Centers.

Grover Cleveland Charter High has been selected by Educational Results Partnership (ERP) and the Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE) as one of 1,866 public schools in California to receive the title of 2016 Honor Roll school.
The Honor Roll is part of a national effort to identify higher-performing schools and highlight successful practices that improve outcomes for students. Schools receiving this distinction from leaders in the California academic and business communities have demonstrated consistent high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations.

CSUN launched Bridge to the Future (B2F) — a scholars program that provides a four-year, tuition-free education to a cohort of Canoga Park students. As part of their participation in the program, all B2F students are expected to give back to their community by participating in service activities and mentoring their younger peers at the high school. Returning to Canoga Park as role models for younger students, they will illustrate the accessibility of university attendance. The goal is to build a new tradition and college-going culture within the community, so more students choose to apply to CSUN, pursue a four-year degree, increase the economic and social standing of their families, and outline a sustainable career trajectory for themselves.

Click here to watch on Youtube.

The California Department of Education has congratulated and commended Pomelo for being named a 2017 Civic Learning Award School. Such success is a direct result of Pomelo's dedicated and hard-working staff, as well as their supportive school community.

Read the full story from LAUSD Daily.

Thank you to our local scientists and engineers at Aerojet Rocketdyne for supporting Sunny Brae’s endeavors to become an Academy of Global Awareness. The donation from Aerojet Rocketdyne for $1,000 was presented to Sunny Brae on Friday, April 7, by Mr. William Munsch.  The award will help to purchase Science projects, specifically robots. Local District Northwest is very grateful for the support from our community!

The Canoga Park CHAMPIONS came together to recognize Autism Awareness Month. Students were encouraged to wear blue in support of this great month. The student Council read messages about autism. Canoga's very own teacher, Andrea Lugo, led the organization of this idea and the staff and students made it happen. When it was time to take the picture above, instead of saying "cheese", the students yelled "CHAMPIONS!"

Baljot Chahal was bullied in elementary and middle school and turned away by other kids at recess. She was weak, said the girl from a deeply traditional east Indian family. Overweight. And painfully shy. She wasn’t normal. Then came a bold about-face at the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley. “The club eventually became my savior,” said Chahal, 17, of Reseda, now president of her senior class at Cleveland Charter High School. “Being a part of the Boys & Girls Club has made me a very strong woman, whose voice is no longer silenced. “I no longer feel I need to hide behind my shadow, or feel bad for being me.”Chahal was named Youth of the Year on Saturday during the 2017 Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley Youth of the Year Luncheon, presented by Farmers Insurance, at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills.

Kaitlyn participated in the Los Angeles County Science Fair (March 23-26, 2017) and the Los Angeles National History Day (March 25, 2017). She was awarded one of the Top Prize at the Los Angeles Science Fair - The Helen & Peter Bing Student Field Research Award with Earthwatch. This is a fellowship stipend award that covers all project and travel expenses to an expedition of her choosing, during the summer. She can choose to go on an expedition with world renown scientists, in places such as Belize, Canada, Costa Rica etc. She loves Dolphins, so I believe she is leaning towards an expedition with Dolphins in Costa Rica. She also was Co-Winner at the History Fair, where she will be moving on to NHD California State competition, being held in Rocklin (near Sacramento) on Saturday, May 6 – Sunday, May 7, 2017. Congratulations to Kaitlyn for her incredible achievements.

The Kind Club at Sutter Middle School has continued to make a positive impact in their community. Natalie Hampton, founder of the app "Sit With Us," visited their school and spoke to students. The Sutter Kind Club invited Mosk Elementary students to the assembly and they were very engaged and enthusiastic to learn more about Ms. Hampton and her app. She shared her bullying experience in middle school, what inspired her to make the app, and how it works and why it works. She also met with the Kind Club Builds LA team for an exclusive interview.

The event was a great success and our school is currently using the app to ensure that no one sits alone at lunch. On Thursday, February 9th, Sutter MS organized a "No One Eats Alone" lunch event for all students.

Congratulations to Patrick Henry middle school 6th grade girls for winning the LAUSD city basketball championship. After a long and difficult season, the girls represented LD Northwest with pride at the city finals on Saturday January 28th. They each won a metal and brought home a trophy & basketball for the school to display. Patrick Henry represents LD Northwest with pride!

Visit the Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences' website to see more photos from the Great  Kindness Challenge 2017.

Bertrand Elementary has been featured in the San Fernando Sun for their participation in the "Great Kindness Challenge". On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Bertrand students and their teachers took a “lap of kindness” around their schoolyard, sporting signs and posters made in class and enjoying each other's company outside in the bright mid-morning sunshine. Some ran, some skipped. Many held hands and chattered excitedly. Bertrand Elementary is one of 32 LAUSD schools in the San Fernando Valley participating in the Great Kindness Challenge with activities to promote and inspire acts of kindness, and reject negative behaviors like bullying. Click here to see the full story from the San Fernando Sun.

Sutter Middle School's Kind Club wants to move our community towards an anti-bullying environment. They want to raise the awareness of students, parents and teachers about the harmful effects and the lifelong impacts bullying has on all parties. Kind Club will visit five local elementary schools to explain what constitutes bullying and the harmful effects of both cyberbullying and traditional bullying. The team will host assemblies to educate elemetnary students about bullying as well as conduct some team-building activities to help students learn how to create positive relationships. The school the team will visit are Fullbright Avenue Elementary, Limerick Avenue Elementary, Mosk Elementary, Sunny Brae Avenue Elementary, and Winnetka Avenue Elementary. In addition, the team is interviewing middle and high school students, parents, and teachers about how bullying has affected their lives or impacted their communities. The team is providing research and action steps for how to stop bullying and using social media to share their progress. Local District Northwest celebrates the initiative of these students to innovate and campaign for a kinder community and better world.

Ms. Monique Brusca, teacher at Columbus Middle School, has been selected to receive the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award at the 2017 Symposium on Music in School this summer at Yale University.  The focus at this year's Symposium is music-making in America's city schools, and the Yale School of Music has partnered with the National Association of Music Educators and VH1 Save the Music Foundation to identify educators who exemplify the qualities of successful music educators in urban districts. Ms Brusca has been selected as a teacher who is remarkable both for her visionary approach to music education in a city school district, as well as her efforts to truly ‘make a difference’ in the lives of students and families.

We would like to share that Patrick Henry Middle School Ukulele, under the direction of Mr. Bernie Bascara, won 1st place in the middle school category for the Granada Hills Parade on Sunday, December 4th. Local District Northwest congratulates the students and sends a warm thank you to all staff, parents, and families who supported them in this making this achievement.

For the past six years, Hart Street ES has collaborated with the YMCA to donate turkey meals to our needy families.
This past Thanksgiving, Hart Street and the YMCA donated 100 meals.

Lanai Road Elementary School has been selected for the 2016 Best of Encino Award in the Elementary School category by the Encino Award Program.

Each year, the Encino Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Encino area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2016 Encino Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Encino Award Program and data provided by third parties.

The Encino Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Encino area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Encino Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

Daniel Pearl Magnet High School partnered with the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council to provide a free CPR Training on Saturday, Dec 3rd for students, parents, staff, and community members. All participants also were trained in basic first aid and automated external defibrillator (AED) use. Another training will be scheduled in spring.

An Intramural Soccer tournament, organized by Principal Kelly Hanock and her team at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences (VAAS) took place on Friday, December 2, 2016. The event brought together students from VAAS, Daniel Pearl Magnet HS (DPMHS), Miller HS, and Adams HS to have friendly and fun soccer matches! Principal Deb Smith of DPMHS, Principal Paul Purkiser of Addams HS and Principal Wayne Foglesong of Miller HS have successfully collaborated with Principal Kelly Hanock and are planning to hold Basketball Games in the spring semester.

As a result, RESEDA VARSITY FOOTBALL WILL PLAY FRANKLIN IN THE 95th ANNUAL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2016 11:00 AM (Div. 3) EL CAMINO COLLEGE, MURDOCK STADIUM.

Mrs. Marci Lewis (Science and Robotics Teacher at Mulholland MS) and Ms. Sarah Ishida (Science and Foreign Language Teacher at Canoga Park HS) were selected to be in the top 10 finalists for the Region 8 Educator of the Year of the California League of Schools 2017. Their incredible dedication and efforts, which resulted in significant student achievement, were recognized and honored at the Awards Dinner on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Congratulations Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Ishida!

All Porter Middle School Homerooms wrote about what the word "Tolerance"meant to them. Then the school connected every paper together to create a chain of links that contains their collective thoughts on tolerance.

Castlebay Lane Charter Elementary School celebrated opening of a brand new computer lab, donated by Councilman Mitch Englander. At the Ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, November 15, 2016, students presented the Councilman with a speech and a demonstration lesson. Castlebay Lane students are excited to expand their learning and creativity through technology.

Stanley Mosk Elementary School is a Lego Model School that emphasizes STEAM education. Each month the principal, Jodi Harrison, holds a Coffee with the Principal to promote family partnerships. On November 2nd, her goal was to teach a Project Based Learning Experience focusing on building structures that can withstand a strong earthquake. This real world lesson included Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics as well as Language Arts. The parents left energized and asking for more hands-on 21st century learning experiences.

Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter’s Elementary Team came in first place for the Youth Services North Regional and Districtwide Flag Football Tournament 2016. Congratulations to the team for their hard work and achievement.

Hart Street Elementary School in Canoga Park has been hosting its annual Math Night events for the past 10 years. It takes places in the evening to allow students and especially parents the opportunity to attend. This year the Math Night was Tuesday, October 25th from 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Hart Elementary Math Night events were developed to give the opportunity for teachers to successfully model fun math games and activities with parents and students. The goal is for parents and students to experience how fun math games are and how they can be used at home. Hart Elementary wants their students to improve their math skills with exciting and fun math activities. This year, 26 staff participated and approximately 225 parents attended. It is such a huge event that they had to put tables outside the auditorium due to the larger than expected participation. Congratulations to the Hart Elementary team for a successful community event centered around math learning.

Dr. Sandra Cruz, principal of Patrick Henry Middle School and a breast cancer survivor of 6 years this December, has been honored by Los Angeles School Police Department's Sgt. George Sandoval with the LASPD Pink Patch Project plaque. Patrick Henry commemorated October, breast cancer awareness month, by wearing pink every Thursday. On Thursday October 27, the school culminated with a group picture of staff and students wearing pink and including our special guest, Sgt. Sandoval who proudly displayed the pink patch on his uniform. Local District Northwest appreciates our LASPD's unwavering support and continued collaboration in keeping our schools safe and in participating in school events.

Dearborn Elementary welcomed the media for coverage of the Great California ShakeOut Drill on October 20th, 2016. The Great California ShakeOut is an annual opportunity to practice how to be safer during big earthquakes.

The Annual African American Fall Parent Summit was held at Los Angeles Valley College on October 8, 2016. The event focused on removing biases and barriers to black student success and featured a variety of workshops with over 80 college and university booths. The LAUSD family and local communities came together for this event aimed at preparing all students to be college and career ready.

Carrying signs and banners from Patrick Henry Middle School, scores of students, parents, teachers, and administrators participated in Walk to School Day on October 5th 2016. Streaming down the sidewalks, the Henry community enjoyed a walk together to complete the one-mile walk from Petit Park to their Granada Hills campus by the first bell. Local District Northwest celebrates Henry's commitment to promoting positive academic, social-emotional, and physical wellness through this community event.

Valley Alternative Magnet got a shout out in this month’s Education Guide put out by LA Parent as a “spectacularly great school for grades K-12”.  If you go to the link below, the article titled LAUSD Magnets: Getting to the Points starts on page 24, and Valley Alternative Magnet is called out on page 27.

Great News from Pomelo Community Charter! On September 21, 2016, Pomelo Community Charter had a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the grand opening of their brand new science lab! Parents, community and local district personnel were invited to celebrate this wonderful occasion. Guests interacted with Ms. Elizabeth Baxter's 4th grade class as they investigated properties of rocks and minerals. Visitors could see all the science materials neatly organized and prepared for instruction by the science lab aide, Mrs. Suzanne Ecklund.

This year at Castlebay Lane Charter Elementary, students running for the Student Council engaged in producing campaign videos and making speeches. They did a great job in this real world experience of seeking positions of leadership.

Over 120 teachers from the Taft Instructional Cabinet came together for a collaborative session on deepening student learning in mathematics. Local District Northwest Instructional Directors Joseph Nacorda and Yolanda Guerra collaborated with the principals of the participating schools to create this opportunity to learn together. The elementary session was facilitated by Elementary Math Coordinator Steve Allen, and the middle and high school session was led by Secondary Math Coordinator Susan Sim-Kim. The professional development event was a great success in our efforts to provide relevant and engaging math instruction for our students.

The Patrick Henry Middle School students of the Academy of Performing & Visual Arts Magnet are learning what it looks like when math and the arts dance. The magnet program is taking every opportunity to engage students in relevant and engaging instruction that integrates academic content with the artistic disciplines of dance, music, theater, film, media arts, and the visual arts.

Local District Northwest congratulates Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies on having one of their teachers being selected to attend the 2016 Green Boot Camp in San Diego last June! Elizabeth Nelson from Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies spent a week learning with 50 other teachers from around the world. Honeywell’s Green Boot Camp teaches middle school teachers how to turn their classrooms into fertile ground on which ideas about sustainability can thrive.

Out of over 500 applications, Elizabeth attended with teachers from 13 countries and 30 other states for a total of 50 participants. Honeywell’s selection of Elizabeth to participate in this program is a significant achievement for her personally, but also is something residents of our community should be proud of as it’s a direct reflection on the quality education our Local District provides.

Local District Northwest and Pierce College partnered to bring over 100 colleges and universities from across the country to the community event, College Fair Extraordinaire. The event featured twenty workshops for students and their families on topics such as financial aid and the college application process. Thank you to all who attended and contributed to the great success of this event.

The students did a wonderful job performing for the Liggett Elementary Auditorium Grand Opening. They were asked to sing a song for the many important community members such as Vivian Ekchian, the Local District Northwest Superintendent, Adrin Nazarian, Los Angeles Assembly Member, Brian Gaviria, a member of LA Mayor Gacetti's office, and local fire fighters and police officers. Local District Northwest celebrates alongside the Liggett community in knowing that the new auditorium will be used as a center for learning and enrichment in the arts.

Dearborn Elementary celebrated the opening of their new science lab, which will serve as a hub of learning for young scientists and engineers. The community came together to commemorate this special addition to the Dearborn instructional program with a ribbon cutting ceremony; school staff, parents, Local District Northwest staff, representatives from Council District 12, and Board Member Scott Schmerelson were in attendance to congratulate the school on this achievement. Following the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, everyone gathered in the Science Lab for a science demonstration led by a team of scientists from CSUN who will be partnering with the school to enrich science instruction. The night culminated with everyone engaging in an engineering design challenge that fully demonstrated the potential of this new learning space.

Students from Leichman Career and Transition Center are getting involved in caring for animals in the newly improved animal care area of the campus. Leichman's animal care area has 29 hens that will be ready to produce eggs for sale at their Thursday Farmer’s Market. Leichman is exploring partnerships to bring in more animals to the area as well. The Leichman community is excited to see the area being used for Animal Care again!

The Los Angeles School Report has highlighted Mulholland Middle School as LAUSD’s first robotics magnet, which has powered the middle school’s boosted enrollment.

A team of teachers from Sepulveda Middle School is leading the way in bringing environmental literacy to their students after attending this summer’s 2016 CELF Education for Sustainability Institute in New York. The team is one of three schools in the Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation's LAUSD Pilot Program. The teachers are engaged in the Institute's first Transformative Action track to bring what they learned back to their students.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, Taft HS Alumni, and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, Marshall HS Alumni, invited the two high school football teams to Saturday night's NFL game at the Coliseum. The high school teams stood on opposing sides of the football field during pregame ceremony and the coaches and team captains from Taft and Marshall HS participated in the coin toss. Both teams got to watch the game from bleachers on the field.

John R. Wooden High School presented at North West Fest where the Local District came together to talk to the community and showcase projects done in our schools. The team developed a poster, handed out Are You A Working Teen? fact-sheets, and educated the community on resources like Cal/OSHA.The students also started planning a smaller local version of the YWLA to be hosted in the LA area this fall.

YWLA is a project of the state’s Worker Occupational Health Safety and Health Training and Education Program, administered by the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) in the Department of Industrial Relations. Additional funding this year came from the California State Employees Association, the California Teachers Association, Laborers International Union of North America, Pacific Compensation Insurance Company, and the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF).

L.A. Unified announced 22 educators as Teachers of the Year for 2016-17, honoring their dedication, passion and innovation to their students and their profession. Six of these educators come from Local District Northwest as listed in the image above; Local District Northwest celebrates their achievements. They guide, encourage and inspire students to academic success.
“I would like to congratulate our Teachers of the Year and to thank these exceptional educators for their dedication to our students and our schools,” said Superintendent Michelle King, a former science teacher. “Every day, these teachers are hard at work in their classrooms, inspiring our kids to learn and realize their full potential.”Our Local District Northwest Rookies of the Year represent 2 elementary schools, and one K-12 span school.

Six CCMS students have received scholarships from Ms. Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, which provided them the opportunity to participate in the CSUN Teenage Drama Workshop -- a 6-week, intensive summer workshop for students interested in theatre. The students attended the workshop at CSUN Monday through Friday (and several Saturdays) from 8:00am – 5:00pm. The students lived and breathed every aspect of the dramatic arts this summer from the performance areas of acting, dance, voice, musical theatre, improvisation, and playwriting to the technical theatre areas of costuming, stagecraft, lights and sound. These photos are from their final performance of Shrek the Musical, Jr. A memorable quote from one of the students to their principal was “Ms. Sciarrino, this was the best summer ever. We worked hard and learned so much.”

Local District Northwest recognizes the six students for all their hard work and thanks Ms. Nancy Cartwright, Ms. Sciarrino, the Columbus Middle School staff, Professor Doug Kaback, and the CSUN Teenage Drama Workshop staff for their collaboration in creating a relevant and engaging real-world learning experience for students in our community this summer.

The Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) is the basis for a new pre-apprenticeship course that can lead to a well-paid job in the building trades and put students on the track to long-term success.

Organized by Local District Northwest, the MC3 training sessions were attended by teachers from throughout LAUSD and taught by professionals with the Los Angeles and Orange Counties' Building and Construction Trades Council. The sessions covered likely topics such as tools and materials and how to read blueprints, but also workers’ rights, sexual harassment and diversity issues, health and safety, and financial responsibility.

There were also discussions about how to teach students the “soft skills” of employment, such as job interviews, teamwork and punctuality. Local District Superintendent Vivian Ekchian worked with Chris Hannan from the Building Trades Council to streamline the training by making it easier for educators to attend. Seven of the participating high schools are in the Northwest Local District – Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Cleveland, Kennedy, Monroe, Reseda and the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies.

“We are expanding opportunities for kids to find what interests them,” Ekchian said. “This program provides them with an awareness of what exists and what it takes to get there.”

Pia Damonte, the counseling coordinator for Local District Northwest, has been working with individual schools on how to integrate the MC3 course into their schedule. “This program is about taking what you know and applying it to the real world,” Damonte said. “It’s career-technical education and Common Core working together.”

Read the full story at LAUSD Daily.